MacBride has loved crime fiction ever since mainlining the Hardy Boys as a child. He tried writing his first book in his mid-20s, as a couple of friends were giving it a go; he wrote a “dreadful” comedy crime novel, but persevered and landed an agent. His fifth attempt at a novel, Cold Granite, became his debut: the first in the Logan McRae series, it sees the Aberdeen detective sergeant out to catch a child killer who is stalking the city’s streets. MacBride called up the Grampian police and a hospital mortuary, asking questions about everything from police procedure to rigor mortis.

Someone out there is trying to make a point, and they’re making it in blood. If Logan can’t stop them, it won’t just be his career that dies. Cinematography is fine with some striking and ominous frame shots. Sound effects are impressive and detailed (with lots and lots of squelching lol). And the zombie transformation scenes - no matter how repetitive they get - always look pretty insane!Macrae has a new role in the police force after a lengthy time off recovering from injury. It’s made him more measured, more self-reliant and more assertive, which is an intriguing direction to take the character. It does fit, though, and it gives a new dynamic to his interactions with Tufty, Rennie and Steel etc. Tufty was maybe a tad too.....bouncy? Didn’t detract from the book for me, however and Steel remains her glorious, wrinkled, acerbic self. ALL THAT'S DEAD marks the return of Inspector Logan McRae. This dark, edgy series is set in Scotland, and Stuart MacBride enjoys peppering these books with the unique language of the Scots who live on both sides of the law. In a previous review, I noted that MacBride is the Scottish version of American hard-boiled authors like George Pelecanos and Dennis Lehane. I think it would be far more appropriate to hold up this stellar series against other Scottish literary giants, such as Ian Rankin and Val McDermid. If you’re not reading this series, you are missing a massive treat. Like others in the series, All That’s Dead can very well be read as a stand-alone, but the characters, their interplay and development, all make for a reading of this series from the beginning to enjoy watching them grow and to follow their progress. Because these are characters you are invested in; people you care about, from the annoying, irrepressible, on overdrive PC Quirrel, universally known as Tufty, to D.S. Roberta Steele, the permanently vaping, never quite finding a bra that fits, fabulously foul mouthed detective. I'm a big fan of MacBride because I love his style, I love his plots and I love his leading characters. I'm a little sad now after reading All That's Dead because it just didn't work so well for me. The 4 starts are of course because the style and the characters are the same. It's the plot I'm having a problem with. I think it is because I'm not British or Scottish but I just couldn't relate to this book because it was more about politics than anything else.

Aside from the political aspect, I enjoyed the thriller elements in the book. I was hooked on the investigation scenes, and there were many plot twists that kept me intrigued. Same goes for the storytelling. Stuart MacBride did an amazing job there. I could vividly imagine the scenes only from his descriptions and I really enjoyed his hilarious metaphors. Each character was amazingly done, with their own little storylines and personal development, all culminating into a great ending to sum everything up. I do love a serial killer and I do love writing about fictional serial killers,” he says, “but I cannot stand reading about real ones because I can’t get past the fact these are real people, and the people they kill never get remembered – it’s always the person who does the killing. I love writing and reading about made-up ones because no one was hurt in the production of a book.”I could rave about All That’s Dead all week. This is with no doubt at all my favourite crime series and Stuart MacBride is my favourite crime writer. I urge you to read them. Everybody needs to meet Roberta Steel! And Tufty. Poor Tufty… With rumours circling about lead detective DI King’s youthful ties to violent nationalist groups, a still-recovering McRae has to shadow the high-profile investigation while tiptoeing through police infighting and waiting for a journalist to toss his unpinned grenade into the mix. Carnage is hovering for all involved.

This may be the 12th addition to the DI Logan McRae series by Stuart MacBride set in Aberdeen, but I still anticipate the newest book with an eagerness and anticipation that places me amongst the community of readers that are die hard fans of the series. At this stage, I know there is little that will surprise me, but this makes little difference to the huge level of enjoyment that I know I am guaranteed to experience. All the elements I expect are here, the humour, the comic wit, the mayhem, the iconic, shambolic lesbian queen that is DS Roberta Steel, and a Logan that MacBride has really put through the mill, it is nothing short of a miracle that he has managed to survive. Here, Logan is returning to work after a year of recovering from a previous stabbing. His new boss at Professional Standards, the crocheting Superintendent Julie Bevan, is easing him into work to support DI Frank King, whose past a journalist is planning to expose, and it is Logan's job to help Police Scotland manage this disastrous state of affairs.

All Solutions for DEAD

This latest installment may stand out as being the most Scottish of them all, as the murder mystery at its heart and the dark suspicions concerning one of the investigators are both centered on ties to Scottish nationalism. There is a large faction of Scottish society longing to come out from under the rule of Great Britain and stand on their own. In ALL THAT'S DEAD, Logan is going to learn that association with these radical factions could be enough to get you killed --- or worse.